Solar panel demand causing spike in worldwide silver prices

Researchers from Kent Business School at the University set out to examine to what extent the rising demand for solar panels as part of a push to use renewable energy sources is responsible for the rising cost of silver.

Silver is a core element for the manufacture of solar panels, as it has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals. As such it is heavily used in solar panels, with around 20g per panel which equates to around 6.1% of the total cost of the price of building each unit.

Analysis - Researchers - Data - Silver - Prices

In their analysis the researchers used data from quarterly silver prices measured from the London Bullion Market, installed solar energy capacity and solar gross electricity production between 1990 and 2016 to map correlations in demand and costs.

The data clearly showed a rise in silver price at the same time as increased demand for solar panels, such as after the 2008 global recession indicating the causal relationship between these two variables. Similarly, prices rose after 2011 when there...